Removable letter display sign



April 22, 1952 w, sTAAF 2,593,621

REMOVABLE LETTER DISPLAY SIGN Filed Aug. 26, 1949 3rmentor I Vrn erfjzfa af (IttornegS Patented Apr. 22, 1952 f 1 UNITED .sr

REMGVABLE LETTER'DISPLAY SIGN Werner LStaaf, R'ennerdale, Pa. Application August 26, 1949,'SerialNo.'1l2,i68

This invention relates to letter display signs adapted for use on the fronts of buildings or elsewhere, and is for a sign for the display of letters, numerals, or other characters in which the letters or other characters are firmly but removably held, so that they can be readily changed and easily removed for cleaning, painting, or replacement.

My invention has for its object to provide a sign with a sign bar of novel construction which is simple and economical to manufacture, and in which the letters will be at all times firmly but remcvably held in place without screws, bolts, or other external fasteners. v

According to the present invention, a sign bar of unique construction is formed from a single piece of sheet metal having the proper quality of resilience, this metal being so folded upon itself so as to provide both a base for securing the bar in place and a letter clamping channel having two flanges, one of which is resiliently urged toward the other. The letters or like display characters are provided with tabs or fins which are inserted into the sign bar, whereby they are resiliently but firmly supported.

My invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the sign bar with a single letter in place thereon;

Fig. 2 is an end view on a larger scale showing the manner of developing or bending the sign bar from a single piece; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section in the plane of line III-III of Fig. 1, showing the sign bar and a portion of the letter attached thereto.

Referring to the drawings, the sign bar designated generally as 2 is formed from a flat piece of resilient metal of a gauge suited to the size of the sign. Stainless steel may be used, or other resilient metal with or without a protective coating or surface film. The sign bar 2 has an upright flange 3 constituting the front face of the sign bar. The metal is bent at A and there is a rearwardly-extending flange 5 forming a, part of the base. The metal is folded and flattened upon itself at 6 to provide on upper fold l on top of the base 5. The upper fold 1 extends close to, but terminates back of, the front flange 3. The metal along the front edge of the fold I is bent perpendicularly at 8, providing a rear flange 9 back of the front flange 3, the flanges 3 and 9 being parallel and being spaced from one another. The metal at the top edge of the flange 9 is folded back on itself 1 Claim. (01. acquit) at It) and extends re-entrantly into the channel between the flanges 3 and 9, providing a sloping surface I! and a lip l2. The lip l2'is resiliently pressed or urged against the back of the front flange 3.

The letters or other characters are typified by the single character shown in Fig. 1 and designated it. These letters or other characters have a sheet'metal fin or tab it at the base thereof. The tabs of all the letters are of the same gauge or thickness, and they are all of a sufflcient height so that when the tab or fin M is forced down the inclined surface ll, it will spring the lip l2 rearwardly away from the rear face of the flange 3 to thereby resiliently engage and clamp the fin or tab in place. As shown in Fig. 3, the tabs are of such length that they engage and rest upon the top surface of the horizontal flange 4. Only a single letter has been shown, because they are all of like construction, except for the contour of the character.

Fig. 2 shows the manner of bending the sheet metal to secure the necessary shape and impart to the lip [2 the resilience for clamping the letters tightly in place. In this figure, corresponding numbers to Fig. 1 have been used to indicate the corresponding parts of the bar. The full lines show the shape to which the strip is bent initially, and before the final step of bending the layer or fold 7 down into contact with the base flange 5. The piece is developed by bending a flat sheet of metal so as to form the upright flange 3 and the bottom flange 5. A reverse right angle bend is formed in the metal at 8, and the bend I0 is formed with the parts H and 2 at an obtuse angle to each other. The fold l is then brought up to the position shown in Fig. 2. Then pressure is applied to the surfaces 5 and 7 to close them together. This last operation brings the lip l 2 down against the inner face of the flange 3 and compresses the parts H and I2, putting them under compression. It will be seen by comparison of the dotted line and full line showing in Fig. 2 that parts 11 and I2 are closer to the part 9 in the dotted line position than in the full line position, indicating the compression of these parts.

After the sign bar has been formed in the manner described, holes It may be put in the base flange for securing the strip to a supporting rail, ledge or other part of a building, or to the place where the sign is to be mounted.

The invention thus provides a sign bar of unique construction simply formed in an economical manner from sheet metal. It can be 7 are clamped. The complete sign is economical,

but neat and attractive in appearance. It will be noted that the front and rear flanges are preferably of the same overall height so that the letters may set just at the top of the front flange, and are attractively displayed with the rear flange being substantially concealed from View- Various changes and modifications, however, may be made in the specific construction "of the strip within the skill of those familiar with the art.

I claim:

A sign comprising a supporting bar and a display character, said bar comprising a sheet metal strip having one edge turned up and constituting a front flange and having at the bottom of said front flange a rearwardly-extending base flange, the metal at the rear edge of the base flange being folded over onto the top of the base flange and extending forwardly to a position intermediate the front flange and the rear edge of the base, the metal at the forward edge of the part so folded over extending upwardly to the height of the front flange and forming a rear flange parallel with, but spaced from the front flange, the metal at the top of the rear flange sloping downwardly and forwardly, there being a. lip of metal at the other edge of the strip in which the slope terminates, said lip being resiliently pressed against the back of the front flange, said display character having a fin at the base thereof which fin extends between and is clamped in position by said lip and the back of the front flange and rests on said base flange, the bottom of the display character being against the top edges of said front and rear flanges. WERNER I. STAAF.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 949,578 Keene Feb. 15, 1910 1,733,126 Johansson Oct. 29, 1929 1,805,487 Johnson May 19, 1931 

